M&T Bank Corp Cuts Position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)

M&T Bank Corp decreased its position in Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,924 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,104 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Highwoods Properties were worth $531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Highwoods Properties by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,265,824 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $99,869,000 after acquiring an additional 556,828 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Highwoods Properties by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,854,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $56,721,000 after buying an additional 416,791 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,328,543 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,627,000 after purchasing an additional 323,946 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Highwoods Properties by 512.9% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,274,443 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,961,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Highwoods Properties in the fourth quarter valued at $32,727,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.

Highwoods Properties Stock Down 2.5%

Highwoods Properties stock opened at $31.11 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Highwoods Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.19 and a fifty-two week high of $36.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.44.

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $200.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.31 million. Highwoods Properties had a net margin of 21.53% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The business’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Highwoods Properties, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Highwoods Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.43%. Highwoods Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 124.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HIW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Highwoods Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Highwoods Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Highwoods Properties from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Highwoods Properties from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Highwoods Properties Company Profile

Highwoods Properties, Inc, headquartered in Raleigh, is a publicly-traded (NYSE:HIW), fully-integrated office real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, acquires, leases and manages properties primarily in the best business districts (BBDs) of Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Nashville, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond and Tampa.